By Steven Spinola
President
Real Estate Board of New York.
Deals that help the growth and prosperity of our economy were recently awarded with the Real Estate Board of New York’s coveted Retail Deal of the Year Awards.
More than 200 people attended the annual cocktail party on June 12 at the 101 Club to hear the 2012 winners announced.
Eleven top-notch real estate dealmakers submitted retail transactions for a chance to compete for the two most distinguished awards in the industry that highlight the most inventive and noteworthy New York City retail deals of the past year.
C. Bradley Mendelson and Alan Schmerzler of Cushman & Wakefield won for The Most Creative Deal in Manhattan for “The Leasing of the Times Square Theatre.”
Scott M. Bloom of Bloom Real Estate Group LLC received the award for The Retail Deal Which Most Significantly Benefits the Manhattan Retail Market for “55 Fulton Street – Key Food.”
For The Most Creative Deal in Manhattan, Mendelson and Schmerzler facilitated a long-term net lease for the historic Times Square Theatre. This deal will result in the restoration and conversion of one of 42nd Street’s most elegant and historic structures into a cutting-edge retail and entertainment environment.
It took two years of due diligence, negotiations, delays, compromises, and deal restructurings for Mendelson and Schmerzler to finalize the lease between Broadway 4D Theater NY LLC and The New 42nd Street.
This deal fulfills the mission of The New 42nd Street by ensuring the long-term survival of the last of the area’s majestic, irreplaceable theaters while also combining the old Broadway spirit with the technology of today.
Bloom, the winner of The Retail Deal Which Most Significantly Benefits the Manhattan Retail Market award, was responsible for expanding a small supermarket in Lower Manhattan tenfold to better serve the area’s quickly-growing residential population. His 30,000 square-foot transaction at 55 Fulton Street was the fifth largest retail deal in Manhattan in 2011.
The neighborhood will greatly benefit from the Key Foods store which intends to operate this location 24/7 allowing residents to shop when it’s most convenient for them.
An important factor in closing the deal was that the tenant would control access to the loading dock and elevator for deliveries to make its 24/7 operation feasible.
As a result of the deal, the supermarket will have more space to offer prepared and fresh food options for area residents.
These deals make significant contributions to two important neighborhoods – the Times Square tourist area and the growing residential community in Lower Manhattan.
I commend these retail brokers for their hard work and achievements with these extraordinary deals that are greatly contributing to the progress and prosperity of NYC’s economy.
REBNY’s Owner/Manager Luncheon
More than 200 of our industry’s leaders came together on June 14 for REBNY’s Residential Brokerage Division’s Owner/Manager Luncheon at the New York Athletic Club.
Attendees socialized and shared their accomplishments while enjoying beautiful views of Central Park at the New York Athletic Club.
This year’s luncheon featured a Power Panel of industry leaders who discussed NYC’s economy and real estate market. Panelists were Faith Hope Consolo, Chair of the Retail Group of Prudential Douglas Elliman; Hal Fetner, President & CEO of Durst Fetner Residential; Woody Heller, Executive Managing Director at Studley, Inc.; and Jim Hedden, Senior Managing Director of Rose Associates, Inc. The panel’s moderator was Greg David, Director of the Business & Economics Reporting Program at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and contributor at Crains NY Business.
Hot topics included high property taxes; current trends for residential sales and rentals; the retail market and the city’s mayoral race in 2013.
During the panel, all agreed property taxes are too high and Fetner added that taxes along with a host of other issues are making it more difficult to create new housing.
While discussing current trends for the residential sales and rental market, Hedden said the limit of new residential sales product will force people into the rental market.
Heller shared that there has been a shift in the buyer perspective stemming from an increased interest in knowing who the financiers are of new construction projects, which wasn’t the case years ago.
On the retail side, Consolo gave the market a 9 out 10 and said this is the city where brands are made. She added that businesses are always looking for new developments that have retail space.
All panelists agreed that keeping crime low and improving the economy will be hot topics for the mayoral race in 2013.
Their overall discussion was optimistic about our city’s future and all embraced the wonderful fact that people from all over the world want to be in NYC. The event was hosted by REBNY’S New York Membership Committee.
